Aktiv Ritual, the Croatian artist who sent me this a few weeks ago, described wanting for this song “something that felt like the last tune at a rave in ’91.” I feel like they hit that nail on the head here; it’s absolutely got glimmers of “Halcyon” (but maybe with a little less ecstasy and a touch of psilocybin instead?). True to its name, I’d love to dance to this song with 50 people I don’t know at some forest rave that you’d need coordinates to find. This is from Aktiv Ritual’s recent album, bioCircuit, which is out now for streaming or on bandcamp.

Aktiv Ritual – “Club Someplace Very Secret”

I’ve covered Matthew Clugston, aka Mattr, a number of times now–not least of all because he’s prolific, releasing far more in the past few years than I’ve managed to keep up with. When I was turned on to him initially, in or about 2022, he was making sub-forward leftfield house and breakbeat stuff, that was all really captivating, but perhaps edged on the side of accessible and straightforward. Over time though, his work has gotten looser, to great effect. With this latest one, he seems to be leaning even more into experimentation, favoring delicate, almost innocent sounds and melodies over bass and melancholy, and often letting the sounds glitch themselves out of time without the need to tidy them up too much. Lovely stuff here. This is out for streaming and on bandcamp, but Clugston also sent me the mp3 to share with you all here.

Mattr – “Earth”

In the early 2000s, as I got started on this blog, the 8-bit microgenre was taking shape after years of existing primarily as a fetish genre on message boards. While I didn’t mind the sonic aesthetic, and I featured chiptune artists here from time to time, I often found myself wishing some of the genre’s best artists would set the SID chips down and widen their palettes. The joy of the genre for me was that it seemed to attract artists hyperfocused on crafting simple and emotionally utilitarian melodies–but why couldn’t those artists do the same without the chipsounds? This submission from Pittsburgh-based Akage Design Co feels like an answer to that question. The song has all the best hallmarks of the aforementioned microgenre: a nostalgic and dry sound palette and a vicious earworm of a lead melody, tied together emotionally in a bow that feels like having a crush on the football player or cheerleader in high school. It’s sensitive, emotional stuff, but without any pomp or melodrama. Best of all, while it hits like great chiptunes, it’s not bogged down with references; so it can stand on its own. This is out as part of the album, Lightt, which you can find for streaming or on bandcamp.

Akage Design Co – “Two Moons”